Information systems may be regarded as an interaction of people and machines. In the past, however, human factors took second place. Nowadays, the need to provide: (i) a functionality that meets the user's needs and (ii) an ergonomic human-machine interface - which takes the way people would like to solve their tasks into consideration - are both recognised as primary concerns by the designers of information systems. The two major themes of this book are as follows: - As new methods and rigorous techniques come into use, the proportion of information systems development effort devoted to analysis and design is set to increase, and the study of human factors also to increase in importance. Methods, representation schemes, tools and environments cannot be applied without a systematic understanding of their use by analysts and designers in development teams. The book presents research results in this area. - Much study in software development has concentrated on a human factors perspective of the end user'. However, this work has to be placed in the overall context of systematic analysis and design of information systems. The book presents some new developments.

Many factors contribute to the way people view and use information, including task requirements, organizational settings, and personality characteristics. Today it is generally accepted that people are an integral element of an information system. System development methodologies include various kinds of people ? managers, analysts, programmers, support staff ? in the development process. IT could be wasted if various aspects of human behavior were not seriously accommodated. Human Factors in Information Systems addresses pertinent issues by including the most recent research in the discipline, which can be utilized by businesses and organizations when implementing information systems into their policies, procedures and daily tasks.

There is no shortage of available human factors information, but until now there was no single guide on how to use this information. Human Factors Methods for Design: Making Systems Human-Centered is an in-depth field guide to solving human factors challenges in the development process. It provides design and human factors professionals, sys

This is a book about systems, including: systems in which humans control machines; systems in which humans interact with humans and the machine component is relatively unimportant; systems which are heavily computerized and those that are not; and governmental, industrial, military and social systems.The book deals with both traditional systems like farming, fishing and the military, and with systems just now tentatively emerging, like the expert and the interactive computer system. The emphasis is on the system concept and its implications for analysis, design and evaluation of these many different types of systems. The book attempts to make three major points: 1. System design, and particularly computer system design, must fit into and be directed by a comprehensive theory of system functioning. 2. Interactive computer design models itself upon our knowledge of how humans function. 3. Highly sophisticated interactive computer systems are presently mostly research vehicles, they are vastly different to general purpose, commercially available word processors and personal computers.The book represents an interdisciplinary approach, the author has used psychological, organizational, human factors, and engineering sources. The book is not a "how to do it" book but it is intended to stimulate thinking about the larger context in which systems, particularly computer systems of the future, should be designed and used.

Computer programs and processes that take into account the goals and needs of the user meet with the greatest success, so it behooves software engineers to consider the human element inherent in every line of code they write. Human Factors in Software Development and Design brings together high quality research on the influence and impact of ordinary people on the software industry. With the goal of improving the quality and usability of computer technologies, this premier reference is intended for students and practitioners of software engineering as well as researchers, educators, and interested laymen.

On human engineering